It won't get as big as a flowering pear tree, but offers good fall foliage and berries for the birds to eat. Most often it is grown as a large multi-trunked shrub (or a small multi-trunked tree) but you can find it grown as a single trunked tree, which is what I have in my garden.

Another sign of spring continuing is when everyone gets out their patio furniture, flower pots, and other garden decoration that they stored away for winter.

Last fall, when I posted about putting everything away for the winter, several people commented wondering why we do that. It is a lot of work!

We do it because if we didn't, a lot of "stuff" would be ruined by the winter weather, or at least not last as long. It is not so much that everything gets cold, it is that it gets wet, freezes, then thaws, then freezes and thaws and this process ruins a lot of garden decorations, furniture and especially clay pots.

So we put it all away in the winter, and then bring it out again in the spring once it feels like we won't have any more terrible freezes. Or at least we should.

I feel like at this point we won't have any terrible freezes so I decided that today would be the day to get everything out again, thus making it Setting Up Day here in my garden.

While doing this, I noted some universal truths about this whole process of putting it all away for the winter and then getting it all out and setting up again in the spring. And I thought of a few tips to pass along.

The first universal truth is that if you put it all away 'dirty', it comes back out that way. Whether it is stowed away in the garage or a shed or stacked up in one corner of the patio and covered with a tarp, "as it is put away, so it shall remain when brought out again".

The tip is to clean everything before you put it away. I need to remember that in the fall but somehow I forget it, or it is too cold or there is some other good reason at the time to just put it away "as is".

The second universal truth is that the further you haul something to store it, the more likely it is that it will break in the transporting process. I've broken at least one rather large clay pot when it rolled off the cart I was using to transport it. I still have the broken pieces in the garage because the pieces are really big, like the pot was, so I'm trying to think of something clever or artsy to make with them.

The tip is to store everything as close to where it goes as you can. I store the furniture and clay pots that go on the back patio under a big tarp in a corner of the patio where it is partially sheltered by the house. Everything gets cold, but it doesn't get wet, so it does alright getting through the winter.

The third universal truth is that hose end sprayers will not work in the spring after being stored in the winter. I don't know if it is by design or a material flaw, but it is rare that a hose end sprayer that was working when you put it away, still works in the spring when you get it back out.

The tip is to be very careful trying out hose end sprayers in the spring, as they will likely spray out all over everything when you first turn on the hose. And by everything, I mean you.

Setting Up Day is also a day to test yourself. Do you still have the strength to set out what you put away a mere five or six months agao?

I am happy to report that I was still able to carry the purble bench out to the vegetable garden.This made me feel very strong.

I'm not finished with all the set up, but got a good start on it today. There is now a place to sit on out on the patio and this bench to sit on in the garden. What more do I need?

My set up day is determined by when I want visitors to be able to sit outside--that happened Friday. Last year I am pretty sure that did not happen until early May. I have been leaving the big coated metal table out and it's a relief not to move it.

The pots will soon be too heavy--I will have to switch to 100% lightweight pots at some point.

Ah yes..the put it all away and then take it all back out 5 months later cycle of the north. I too am in the middle of that process. For me it seems to be a little bit at a time as I never seem to have a couple of days to dedicate to it.

Carol, we, too, started setting up today. Adult kids over and grandkids, so put them all to work helping with the patio furniture. That's the big job for me. I can do the pots ect. as I please. So nice out today we used the newly set out furniture for an afternoon of sitting in the sun!

Wow.It sounds kind of like you pack away your entire garden for the winter season. A very foreign concept to me. Not only do we leave everything in place all year... we use it all year.

If I did have to put away and set up ... I'd follow your "truths" because they make great sense. I'm so happy for you that spring has arrived in blooms and pots and benches looking lovely and ready for some "May Dreams".Meems @Hoe&Shovel

Like Meems, we here in Austin leave everything out for the winter and use it more in the winter than in summer. Very convenient. However, I suspect that the ritual of bringing out the garden stuff is a satisfying way of marking spring's arrival for you northern gardeners.

I love the purple bench, Carol, and am glad it's time for you to take out the garden furniture. Like Meems and Pam, we leave ours out all year - even the patio umbrella, which is needed when the trees are bare.

You're right about the sprayers and wands - never had one that wasn't flawed!

We leave our wood patio furniture outside and cover it with tarps (NOT a pretty sight!) I hide the pots under the table to protect them, as I'm too lazy to drag them in. So far nothing has broken (yet.) The tarp keeps them out of the snow, and since they're dry, they don't suffer from the freeze/thaw cycle.

Carol: I LOVE your purple bench! How cheery it is! You are right about putting things away. Any thoughts on where I put the sprinkler heads and the wand for my hose? You would think that by now, I would have learned! Please remind us in the fall of these facts!

Carol - GBD has hit the British press! the Independent to be precise. Not sure if the article was in the paper version, but you can see the online version here : http://blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/2008/04/draft-a-nice-gr.html#more

I was thrilled to find some Serviceberry at the local nursery the other day. As soon as I prepare a spot I'm going back to get at least one.

As far as spring clean up goes - I know why it's best to rake up all the leaves in the fall. This year I won't put it off. The early snow that came and stayed last fall really made a mess.

I looked at some stone I moved last year. I'm still wondering how I managed to budge some of them. Unfortunately I'm facing a new universal truth. I can't quite do what I was able to do the year before. Three weeks after starting to work/play and I'm still as stiff and sore as the day I started.

We leave most things out all year and use them too...I do move the succulents under the patio cover so they don't spend the winter cold and wet and I take down the umbrellas because of the winter winds. And if I do need to move a big pot I use a handtruck...you can tip it down so the pot doesn't fall off...way easier on the pots and the back!

Our setting up day is actually "sweep and hose off the screened porch for the first but not last time this spring day". But we do have to put away pots or they don't survive our freezing weather, either.

Your rules certainly hold true ...the sprayers don't work in the spring and the further you have to move something the more likely it will break!

My first time at your blog. I enjoyed seeing you great pics and reading your interesting posts. We had set up day here at the north west coast a few weeks ago when the weather was warm. That has changed tho' and it is now too chilly to enjoy being out in the garden. We are all set up tho' for when the weather turns warm again. : ) I'll be back!

You're ready to go to it in earnest--you have the bench out there for just BE-ing, and the rest of it willall fall into place. Great to see the amelanchiers are already blooming. Here, the buds are swelling, though my nursery bud in Falmouth says his will probably erupt in the next week or so. A little warmer there.

Carol - I'm so glad you solved the mystery for me. I had no idea that it was a rule that hose end sprayers don't work the following Spring. And it only took me a week or two of getting soaked to give in a buy two new ones. In fact, I only bought the second one today, even though I KNOW I have two hoses. Your bench is lovely - I hope you can enjoy just BEING on it and watching your garden grow. PS - how are your bunnies? Did you bring some to Spring Fling and sneak them into my yard?

Happy Setting Up Day or should that be Week? ;-) It's a fun time of year don't you think? Now the garden is really coming to life. Your universal truths work for me too except the one about the hose end sprayer not working; mine works fine I'm happy to say! I hope yours is working properly now too.

Copyright Notice

This site, including the pictures and text, is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. I grant you prior permission to use my feed and quotes of 100 words or less as long as you give credit. If you wish to use more, please email me.